Since shooting B&W film for so long I have really grown accustomed to seeing my images in B&W. I occassionally convert raw files to B&W but when I see a particular scene that should be shot in B&W I switch modes.

I want complete control over the image and any versions thereof. I therefore shoot in raw and make adjustments myself - one never knows if a colour version of the image or even a portion could be used for a project at a later date.

I occasionally use channel mixer with the monochrome option checked. More often, I use a macro to set up a workflow that uses each of the red, green, and blue layers as well as the luminosity channel of a LAB image. Masks on each channel allow me to paint in exactly the detail I want from each channel.

If you know that your going to have a certain foto go B&W then yopu know in advance what you will need to make sure its comes out B&W , But I prefer to shoot either Jpeg or Raw and then take the work home and do it on the Computer!

Actually, I shoot in RAW color and change the image to B&W in Photoshop, but I would like to see a monochrome image on the LCD camera viewer, but still save the image saved in Color RAW. I could therefore use Chanel Mixer, etc. in Photoshop on the image to get the best B&W rendition.

I still do not know which way presents the best B&W. So far I have not found digital B&W to equal film B&W. Some argue otherwise. I would like to see a serious article in Shutterbug concerning the pros and cons of digital vs film.